Training

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Super Seven Series – Race 3

A relaxed crowd shortly before the start in front of the YMCA.
1795 registered for this event. Not far to go to reach the 2000 participant mark!
Beautiful blue skies for the third event.
Passing underneath the Manawatu River Bridge just before the turn-off for the 3km course.
The clearly marked and manned route. No getting lost.
One of two similar “hills” on the course – about 1.5m climb to get over the river bank.
Some welcome refreshment at the halfway mark.

Things were going well for the back-of-the-packers. We did our daily jog. Fitted in the long-runs on weekends. Entered for the Rotorua marathon which is happening on 2 May. And then life got in the way. Funny how this always happens the moment you commit to something big. Continue reading →

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A sorry sight.

Yesterday, before discarding our 2013 year-planner (that had been stuck on the bathroom door for the past year), we decided, with some reservations, to add up the numbers and get an idea of our running/walking “accomplishments” of 2013.

I’m putting accomplishments in inverted commas because 2013 must have been more or less our worst running year since we first took up the habit at the turn of the century. Despite our best intentions, and numerous attempts to get back into some training schedule, our running just never got off the ground, and until the last quarter of the year we pretty much never managed to get beyond the breakdown phase of our training. Continue reading →

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New Year’s Resolutions – the Easy (!?) Eight

Well, here we are – hard to believe it’s 2014 already! It’s the first day of the new year, and with Christmas, New Year’s Eve and all the festivities behind us, we can start to look forward to the year ahead. As corny and silly as new year’s resolutions can be, I guess it’s pretty hard to avoid – even if your main resolution is to not have a new year’s resolutions list, we all secretly have a few things in mind that we want to take on, achieve, improve on, perhaps even avoid or quit. Continue reading →

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The magical Marathon

The marathon – most fabled of all running events.

As most of you will know, the marathon, a long distance running event of 42.195 kilometers, was instituted to commemorate the fabled and heroic run of the Greek soldier-messenger Pheidippides, from the Battle of Marathon (hence the name) to Athens.

The story goes that brave Pheidippides ran the entire distance without stopping, exclaiming ‘We have won!’ when he finally reached his destination, and then promptly collapsed and died.

Phidippides

Thinking about it now, a couple of things could’ve contributed to his fate. He may have been over- or undertrained. Continue reading →

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Runner’s Pasta recipe

A few years ago (well, actually about 10!), Runner’s World SA featured this recipe by Graeme Shapiro (owner and chef at Wild Poppy Cafe Fremantle in Perth, Australia). We’ve since made it more times than I care to remember and it never fails to please all your taste buds. And if you don’t have all the ingredients, fear not, as I’ve tried various combinations of more or less the same ingredients, leave out some, add other – you’re bound to still have a winner.

runnerspasta_s

The Runner’s Paste

  • 1 box (500g) fusilli or fresh taglierini pasta
  • 1 packet (250g) basil pesto or olive tapenade
  • 1 jar (200g) artichoke hearts
  • 150g calamata olives (stones removed)
  • 150g roasted pepers
  • 2 handfuls (30g) fresh basil – torn into pieces
  • 100g pine nuts (or slithered almonds) – toasted (pop under the oven grill for a few minutes)
  • 100g sun-dried tomatoes (preferably marinated) – finely sliced
  • 250g cooked bacon – dice into pieces (smoked salmon/smoked chicken breast/tuna are other great options)
  • 200g goats cheese or feta – crumbled into pieces

Method

Place the cooked pasta into a large bowl, add the pesto and toss through to coat the pasta. Add the rest of the ingredients. If you are serving the pasta warm, add the cheese last just before serving. Garnish with fresh basil or parmesan/pecorino shavings.